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U.K. stocks edged lower on Monday, with the aviation industry in the spotlight as airlines revealed their latest attempts to stem the damage from collapsing traffic.
The FTSE 100 UKX, -0.35% slipped 0.3%. Energy giants BP BP, +0.29% and Royal Dutch Shell RDSA, +1.00% each rose on a day when oil prices touched a 17-year low.
EasyJet EZJ, -8.07% shares slumped 8% as the budget airline grounded its entire fleet. The airline said it had no debt refinancings due until 2022. EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, meanwhile, said he would try to remove the entire board if it doesn’t cancel a £4.5 billion order from Airbus.
International Consolidated Airlines Group IAG, -3.35% dropped 3%. It separately said that British Airways extended a credit line, taking undrawn facilities equivalent to €2.1 billion currently, compared with €1.9 billion at the end of 2019. IAG said it has not drawn down on any of its facilities.
Meggitt MGGT, -13.90% and Rolls-Royce RR, -12.67% also slumped due to their exposure to the airline industry.
Hammerson HMSO, -19.79%, the real-estate company, plunged 17% after scrapping its dividend and withdrawing guidance. Deutsche Bank separately lowered the company to hold from buy in a broader note on European real estate, in which the broker sees a 10% to 13% drop in like-for-like retail rental declines and said landlords would bear half the costs for rent loss and deferrals.
Alpha FX Group AFX, -41.49% dropped 40% after reporting it is owed £30.2 million from a global exporter of food produce that mostly sold U.S. dollars to buy Norwegian krone. The client, which the company wouldn’t name, subsequently became unable to pay the full margin owed on its forward contracts when due when the krone collapsed. Alpha said it was negotiating a payment plan.
